The Babadook Review

Interest: 8/10

Acting: 8/10

Storyline: 8/10

Delving into Darkness: 8/10

Fights Guns or otherwise: 8.5/10

Excitement: 6/10

Horror: 10/10

Nudity: 0/10

Gore: 5/10

Logic: 8/10

This film is an Australian horror film released in 2014, and was lucky to see it in theaters. I’m watching in at my home right now on my laptop and will use both how I felt the first time and this watch to give a general consensus on the film.

Interest: It’s a little slow at first, but for good reason, it sets up a mood and a story for you. This isn’t a slasher flick, this horror film makes you think and feel. The other end of that stick is that you need to give it your undivided attention, without that, you’ll probably go “Eh it was okay.”

Acting: The acting is very good. I’m not really sure if the actors in this film are prominent actors in Australia or not, but assuming this is there first go at acting on the big screen, they did a hell of a job. I was sucked into there world, who they were, and how there was a, perhaps, a real life grit between the actors in and out of the film. I very much enjoyed it.

Storyline: The storyline is very good. A single mom deals with the death of her husband and birth of son and then even something that never goes away. I like to explain it as “The Exorcist, but without being able to get rid of the bad thing”. It’s a great film and works well, no glaring holes, and it’s all believable.

Delving into Darkness: Usually I have a joke category, or something because the movies I review sometimes don’t have nearly enough about them for normal categories, so I give it something that may help it, or hurt it (I never said I was fair) but this is no joke category. This movie gets dark and pretty heavy emotionally and the intensity it brings with the soundtrack, acting, story, and mood set is just…. Almost scary, and maybe even… depressing? It does it’s job so well, with even subtle things you don’t really notice, like the dark color palette the movie uses, it’s just an exquisite film.

Fights, Guns or Otherwise: This film is great for mostly non physical confrontation. By that I mean lots of verbal and emotional jabs, but also there are a few physical things that happen too. Also I must warn you SPOILER!: A DOG DIES IN THIS FILM, NOTHING BAD IS SHOWN BUT IT DOES DIE. END SPOILER! And there is some other physical altercations, nothing crazy, but man it just works so well in this movie.

Excitement: This movie is moderately exciting. There are no big action scenes or anything. The reason the movie works is that you slowly dive into madness. But once you’re there, it pushes it to the max causing the scare time to be pretty high up there. What I’d consider this more now is thrill. And there is some thrill to this. It’s fun to see the descent into chaos. But your first go, if you aren’t keeping yourself pulled out of the movie, is that this is a terrifying ride that you don’t necessarily see the thrill in. You’re just scared constantly.

Horror: This was the first horror film I’ve ever seen in a movie theater. I Saw it near the afternoon (11:30 AM) and I when leaving was so glad that I had seen it in the afternoon. The movie didn’t traumatize me or anything like that, but it did have me on edge. That being said, I let the movie lead me by the hand into the world it had crafted and created. As I watch it now, it still does a great job of making you, at the very least feel uneasy. Make you feel like something is wrong and not quite right. And that is the beauty of this film, it does horror truly right.

Nudity: This film has none, and to be honest would detract from the overall feel of this movie. I’m one that is pretty understanding, and liberal with my nudity in films, Meaning that I generally rank on the amount of naked bodies I see in a film, and while this category scored low, in this I’m saying there aren’t dead bodies but it would literally ruin the whole movie.

Gore: There isn’t much gore either in this fine flick. There is a little blood and maybe one or two twists and turns, but otherwise the movie is very little on the graphic violence viewing. This again while detracts on the score, doesn’t mean it is actually bad. It just means there really wasn’t a gory movie.

Logic: I think the logic of this film holds up well, actors act as normal as one can in these situations, have epiphanies and eventually kind of overcome the problem. Some things though fall through as would also probably happen if you were near certified crazy, so I’ll chock those things up to that, but there are a couple things here and there that I think don’t entirely add up and that’s why I don’t give it full marks.

So was it worth watching? Oh absolutely yes. I suggest this movie to everyone. I loved it. There is just one thing that ruins the film near the ending, just a certain noise they use takes you (Or at least me) out of the movie hard. And that does make it not become my favorite horror movie of all time, but it’s pretty high up there. 69.5% is what it is rated, but Those are just numbers, GO out and try it, It is definitely worth your time, especially in October!